Another Santos Scandal? He Diverted Voter Registration Money to a GOP-Allied Gay Rights Site

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

....and to pay his rent!!!

During Rep. George Santos’ second run for a congressional seat on Long Island—he lost his first—he helped raise money for and direct a political action committee called Rise NY that was set up in 2020 under New York State law. Its declared mission was to focus on voter registration, education, and turnout. The PAC collected over $430,000 in donations for its operations.

Yet Santos, the disgraced Republican fabulist, used a large chunk of those funds—$55,800—for a purpose other than voter registration and engagement and sent this money to a Washington, DC, nonprofit to fund a new conservative gay rights site associated with Richard Grenell, a prominent gay Republican who served in the Trump administration and who endorsed Santos and helped him gather campaign money.

Rise NY was officially headed by Santos’ sister, Tiffany, who was listed as its president and on its payroll. Nancy Marks served as the PAC’s treasurer, the same role she held on Santos’ House campaigns. Rise NY engaged in actions that the New York Times characterized as “unusual, if not a violation” of law, which included paying workers for Santos’ House campaign. As Newsday reported in an exposé of Rise NY, it made two payments totaling $5,200 to the landlord of the building where Santos lived in Whitestone, Queens.

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“While I support gay rights, that’s not the purpose for Rise NY that was represented to me. I was told several times that Rise NY funds were going to efforts to register Republican voters in traditionally Democrat voting districts.”

One of the top recipients of money from Rise NY was the Liberty Education Forum, a small nonprofit in Washington that is affiliated with the Log Cabin Republicans, an organization of gay Republicans. The donations Rise NY sent the group had nothing to do with voter registration efforts. According to Charles Moran, a spokesperson for the forum, Rise NY made three payments of $18,600 to support a new project the group started called Outspoken Middle East, an international LGBTQ human rights program. Rise NY also paid the group $1,800 for three tickets to its 2021 annual gala.

**longish detailed account at link**

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/02/another-santos-scandal-he-diverted-voter-registration-money-to-a-gop-allied-gay-rights-site/